The First
Cambrian Explosion
or
The Global Cellular Meta-System-Transition

This is an excerpt from the e-book
The Gaian-Ego Hypothesis. A major implication of system theory is what it can say
about the nature of organisms, it relates to an aspect of evolution that is
little considered by many. An outcome of cells creating beyond themselves is a
phenomenon called the Cambrian Explosion which is an example of a global Meta
System Transition (MST) [FR]. It was a systemic event that occurred around 550 million years ago whereby the
ecosystem of single cellular organism underwent a change, giving certain cells
(eukaryotes)
enhanced communication capacity. Their subsequent interactions and systems of
dependencies self-organised into vast collectives of cells that we call
multi-cellular organisms. All animals including ourselves are such organisms
and we are self-organising civilisations of trillions of cells with emergent
phenomena such as mind and ego.
Understanding this is vital for understanding the true systemic nature of
ourselves and ultimately of civilisation. More >

Gaia or the Man Machine?

Some have countered the idea of the planet as a holistic organism with
comments such as: "But the question for us as individuals is: do we want our
descendants to become like the cells of organs, organs which in turn comprise
some larger entity - that is, totally dependent on the functioning of our
civilised system as a whole, mere cogs in wheels? Is it inevitably to this end
that the human pattern, like the metazoan and the social insect patterns before
it, had to evolve? Lastly, if we should not want to evolve this way, are we
still able to halt the trend that is already in progress, and if so how?"
[FR].

W. D. Hamilton [FR], the author of this comment was a leading evolutionary
biologist who was a forerunner to sociobiology and the scientific study of society as a
natural evolutionary phenomenon. But in subtle ways, like most of his
contemporaries, he was caught in a
mechanistic view of the world and didn't have enough systemic insight to
comprehend what it means to form a collective organism out of ourselves. Through
collective integration we cannot but help form a super-system of some kind, we
implicitly recognise that fact through the word 'civilisation'. It is the
nature of systems to integrate and create super-systems and we are not beyond the fundamental
systemic 'laws' of the cosmos.
The only way to avoid creating beyond ourselves would be to cease all
communication and cooperation and become isolated individuals or small
fragmented tribes living close to nature, but for that the population would need
to be massively reduced, the ecosystem massively regenerated and strict
prohibition of all cooperation must be enforced. But in
our current situation it is the case that for a long time we have already been
"totally dependent on the functioning of our civilised system as a whole". We
have already become sub-systems inextricably integrated into a super-system. But
the important question is what kind of a super-system do we create out of
ourselves, will it nourish us or devour us?

That depends on what ideas flow through our minds, what ideas flow through
the culture and the way that we structure ourselves and come together in order to
interact and integrate. These factors determine whether we create a fascist
machine that enslaves us as "mere cogs in wheels" or whether we create a vibrant
healthy living organism that can thrive and glow with health, where its health
is our collective health, its intelligence is our collective intelligence and
its joy is our collective joy. More >

A Psychological Perspective on Civilisation

The process of constructing
energised thought forms is the creation of
conditioned stimuli or symbols
that arouse an inner response. It is a cultural
memetic
technology that is the core technology with which
civilisation has been built. A system of coordinated symbols, in the old
language, is called an
egregore and
in the new language, it may be called a
paradigm.
Once conditioning has been imprinted in a population it provides hooks in
people's minds by which influence can be exerted, either by the people
themselves or by external power structures. It unleashes and harnesses the power
of the subconscious mind, thus it is a very powerful technology.

Once these hooks are in place they can be subtly manipulated and turned to
different purposes. For example, the rhetoric of "freedom and liberty" may have
been imprinted to encourage people toward personal freedom and liberty but once
this becomes a conditioned stimulus and it becomes a strong egregore/paradigm it
can be gradually distorted. This may take place within the context of an
authoritarian discourse so that it implies collective freedom and liberty
through greater strength, 'security' and authority for the governmental system,
which in turn promises to provide personal freedom and liberty, but in order to
do so it must impose measures that ultimately destroy people's freedom and
liberty. More >

Organisational Governance

First some basic terms and concepts before we get into the
systemic history of human civilisation. All organisations have both
an informal and a formal structure. These are concepts from the
systems theory of organisational structures, which I will briefly
define. They are two parallel systems of governance within any
organisation. The informal structure within a society is the original
organic level of governance, its main communication mechanism is the
'grapevine' and its code of conduct is traditions, norms, taboos and
so on; it can be anarchic such as a group of friends or it can be
highly structured such as a tribe that has well defined roles and
power relations. The formal structure of a society is a later
outgrowth that institutionalises the basic nature of the informal
system of governance and extends it over a broader reach. Its main
modern communication mechanism is mass media and its main code of
conduct is legislation.

In any organisational structure these levels of governance exist
to varying degrees. It is most commonly analysed within corporate
cultures so I'll first discuss it in this context. Too often the
system is envisaged from the perspective of the formal structure so
the culture becomes authoritarian; the staff are objectified as the
corporation leverages it control and pushes for productivity but due
to the ignorance of the nature of the organisational system the
formal structure abuses the informal structure leading to stress, low
morale, lower productivity, absenteeism and staff turnover. These are
then naively blamed on the staff and tighter controls are implemented
thus worsening the situation [FR]. More >

Interaction, Economics and the Human Condition

Money is a medium of exchange to facilitate human interaction - it represents
interaction energy. But what is interaction and what are its
effects?

From the perspective of system theory systems don't just exist, they
arise from the interactions of their sub-systems. Systems are emergent phenomena
that depend upon interaction. If the interactions occur the higher level systems
emerge and if the interactions don't occur then the higher level systems don't
emerge. If the interactions are coherent and sufficient then the emergent
systems are sane and 'healthy', and if the interactions are incoherent or
insufficient then the emergent systems are insane or 'unhealthy'.

There are as many different interaction contexts and mediums of exchange as
there are different kinds of systems. When considering just human social systems
the mediums of exchange range from words, ideas, gestures, compassion, kudos,
effort, time, ingenuity, objects, resources, and so on. But in the current
system all values are ultimately expressed in terms of a single medium - money -
which has become an abstract value in its own right that has become
disassociated from its original values. Whether it is food, land, products,
services, health, life, sanity and so on - these are all expressed in terms of
money and are made subservient to money.

From system theory we see that the purpose of interaction is the creation and
maintenance of systems and from economics we see that money is a medium of
exchange to facilitate human interaction. So economics is about the creation and
maintenance of social systems by facilitating human interactions - it is the
metabolism of organisation. Where organisation is the cooperative
integration of many people toward a common end and ultimately the common end is
life, i.e. harmonious and effective living. But the economic system has largely
become disassociated from this context and re-imagined within an abstract
capitalist discourse (i.e. one that is capital-centric and not
life-centric). It has become an abstract game that is geared toward healthy
capitalist organisation and not toward healthy human interaction and social
organisation. More >

I previously mentioned the mathematics and its computational
implementation that arose from my metaphysical research in the
article IT
Revolution. Here I'll discuss how this fits in with system
theory, consciousness, metaphysics and the evolution of systems from
particles to civilisation, but first I'll begin by saying a little
more about the mathematical / computational process by describing a
simple way of thinking about it in terms of Turing machines and
neural networks - it is computationally equivalent to a massively
parallel network of neurons but we can work towards it by thinking
about Turing machines. Let me explain in 4 steps: More >

Collective Meditation to Counter the Collective Ego

I'll first summarise, in a paragraph, a conceptual lead in to this
discussion. Everything can be conceived of as a complex system, cells
interact and integrate to create cellular civilisations, these form
centralised power structures that call themselves 'I' - this is the
ego - it is not the real being but just a thought construct that
arises via commonsense realism. Then these egos interact and
integrate to create human civilisations, these form centralised power
structures that are increasingly coming to think 'I' - this is the
collective ego - it is not the real civilisation but just a cultural
construct that arises via commonsense realism. Just as commonsense
realism and the ego are the ultimate source of all delusion and
dysfunction in humans (cellular civilisations) commonsense realism
and the collective ego are the ultimate source of all delusion and
dysfunction in society and the world at large. Just as meditation can
help to overcome commonsense realism and the tyranny of the ego in
individual humans (cellular civilisations) resulting in liberation
and bliss it can also be adapted to help overcome commonsense realism
and the tyranny of the collective ego in human civilisations
resulting in liberation and bliss.

In the quotes below I have made a start at adapting the principles
of meditation for collective purposes. This is just a start to
indicate the general outline of what I feel is required. I strongly
urge others to think about this and help to further develop these
ideas, in your own way or as an extension of these strategies. More >

Commonsense realism is a profoundly important concept that impacts
on all subjects. It is central to The
Scientific Case Against Materialism and The
Mystic Meaning of Original Sin is essentially that "Commonsense
realism IS the original sin". It is the root cause of all
delusion (which is the real meaning of 'sin'), the first of which is
the ego, which then forms the centre of a whole world of delusion
(maya or samsara). Without understanding commonsense realism we
cannot truly understand the ego (see these
articles for a systemic perspective on the ego).

In each moment of awareness commonsense realism blinds us to
reality and causes us to dwell in a fantasy land that is constructed
from false beliefs within our own minds that we unquestioning mistake
for the external objective world. With our thoughts we construct a
subjective experiential world with the ego as the main fictional
character at its centre and commonsense realism causes us to confuse
this as being the objective reality. I have discussed commonsense
realism in the above articles but I'll go into more detail about it
and its relation to the ego here. More >

Nationalist / Corporate Power Struggle in the Global Economic
Ecosystem

This is a follow on from the article
Economic Metabolism, this will make more sense if you read that first if you
haven't already. In that article I comment at one point that:

"The spread of the common currencies, whether non-conserved or conserved
delimits the range of collective integration. For example, the spread of
American culture as the common non-conserved currency and the use of the
American dollar as the common conserved currency throughout the world is
effectively the assimilation of the planet into the American organism and over
time these conditions will inevitably result in the Americanisation of the
planet." [FR]

And I quote examples of "Fragmentation and Assimilation. "exclusive use of a competitive
programmed currency in a community tends to be destructive for the community
fabric. This isn't theory. We've seen this happen at the tribe level, with the
collapses of traditional societies. I've seen one happen myself in Peru among
the Chipibo in the Amazon. That tribe had been in existence for thousands of
years. When they started using the national currency among themselves, the whole
community fabric collapsed in five years' time. The same thing happened here
during the 19th century in the Northwestern United States and Canada, in the
traditional indigenous societies. The moment they started using white man's
currency among themselves, the community collapsed, the traditional fabric broke
down." " [FR]

"Consider a small organism (analogous to an isolated tribe) that has its own
coherent and healthy metabolic processes (systems of exchange) that are central
to its healthy functioning and continued integration. Then this organism is
swallowed by a larger organism and it is surrounded by the metabolic process of
the larger organism. This foreign system of exchange invades and permeates the
smaller system of exchange. There are now different biochemical messengers
flowing around that swamp the smaller metabolic processes. The cells can no
longer exchange meaningful signals in their own symbolic language and the flow
of these signals diminishes (reduced interaction energy) whilst at the same time
they must all adapt to the new symbolic messages which are in high concentration
(high interaction energy) so new meanings are transferred between the cells thus
changing the nature of their communications and interactions so the previously
healthy organism is torn apart and assimilated into the larger organism."
[FR]

First I'll comment on the metabolic power play between nations and then
discuss the subtler interplay of corporations.

The metabolic effect of assimilation and integration most likely explains the
recent rise of U.S. aggression against Iran. One of the primary metabolic fluids
of the industrial complex is oil and at present it is inextricably linked to the
U.S. dollar through "petrodollars", this is a mainstay of the supremacy of the
U.S. dollar as the primary medium of exchange throughout the world and thereby
secures America's metabolic supremacy over all other nationalist organisms.

Iran is threatening the supremacy of the U.S. dollar by accepting euros as
payment for its oil, just as Iraq attempted to do in 2000 but the U.S. responded
with devastating force and now controls Iraq's oil supply. But Iran's threat is
even greater than Iraq's because it plans to open an international oil exchange
(a bourse) whereby many nations can buy and sell oil in euros rather than U.S.
dollars. This is an effective method of resistance to the American metabolic
assimilation of the rest of the world. Also due to the instability of the U.S.
economy it also poses a serious and potentially fatal threat to the internal
metabolic stability of the American economy as a whole. More >

The Mystic Meaning of Original Sin

This was inspired by
comments from Astrid. She associated it with selfishness and greed; the need
to take from the world. I agree but the original sin, I think, can be clearly
identified, let me explain...

Firstly regarding sin, in all the mystic traditions that I have studied my
understanding of the concept of 'sin' is that it is associated with illusion and
delusion, which causes us to get out of synch with the harmony of the cosmic
symphony. This then gives rise to acts that are out of harmony with the whole
and creates dysfunction and suffering that spreads like ripples through the
interconnected system. The act isn't the sin, it's the delusion that is. It is
only in mystic traditions that were corrupted for political / authoritarian
purposes that this meaning was twisted to mean certain actions that were
prohibited by the set of rules imposed by the authoritarian structure.

As for original sin, I agree, it doesn't mean "in far distant time", it means
the originating illusion as in the root cause of illusion. This operates in each
moment of awareness. As each impression is interpreted by the subconscious it
becomes distorted by false beliefs and agendas. This distorted impression is
then experienced by the conscious mind which is oblivious to the fact that it is
experiencing a subjective impression and it assumes that it is experiencing "the
world" as it is "out there".

It is this last step, called
commonsense realism or naive realism that is the root cause of all further
delusions. NAIVE REALISM IS ORIGINAL SIN. Even with a mind free of other false
beliefs this last step soon fills the mind full of false beliefs. It is the
cause of our "fall from grace".

In reality: “That which permeates all, which nothing transcends and which,
like the universal space around us, fills everything completely from within and
without, that Supreme non-dual Brahman – that thou art.” (Sankaracharya) More >

The excellent
Interview
with Bernard Lietaer reproduced in Astrid's article discusses a VERY important piece of the puzzle of how to bring
harmony back into this world. I will comment on it here from the perspective of
economics as a social metabolic process within a collective organism. This
homology (meaningful parallel) brings out some interesting implications and
explains just why complimentary currency systems can be such a revolutionary
change.

I first discuss some general principles and then comment on the interview
within that context...

Lietaer defines "money, or currency, as an agreement within a community to
use something as a medium of exchange... And most of the time, it's done
unconsciously... We're living in this money world like fish in water, taking it
completely for granted." This role of money as a "medium of exchange" is the
basis of the parallels between economics and biochemistry. More >

All of the key flaws in the economic system are well known to any
who look beyond the web of deception that permeates mass culture -
the discussion here at NCN is similar to discussions happening all
over the globe, discussions that have been occurring throughout the
last century but to little avail. What do all these phenomena point
to? Is there some overarching paradigm in which they can all be made
sense of? Is it a matter of an elite wielding control or is it
something deeper? Is there something practical that can be done about
it?

Economics plays an important role in all of the key changes
happening in the world but aside from our traditional
rationalisations, what purpose does it really serve and what do the
many changes signify? From the perspective of system theory,
cybernetics and complexity theory the answers are startling!!!! More >

IT Revolution

Our minds are following similar tracks but he is much more aware of what
people are doing in the world whilst I've been off in solitary contemplation for
many years. I've hardly payed any attention to the rest of the world until the
last couple months. It's good to have your help Ming in catching up :)

About the article
Software is hard - Ming says:
"What is missing is really tools for modeling things to do... the general
problem might only be solved at around the same time when most programming will
no longer be necessary. I.e. you interactively work out the model of what to do
in real-time, and when you're done, the software is done too. No separation
between the specification and the doing. Would be great. There are systems that
do that to some degree, but so far nobody's succeeded in making it general
enough. The ultimate software project would be to invent a system that makes
programming obsolete, by making it so simple that anybody can do it, very
quickly. Unfortunately that's a hard."

Well I've been working on that one - more accurately it fell out of some
metaphysical research into information systems theory and models of reality
generative processes that could create realities like the one that we experience
- or more accurately again, a vision appeared fully formed in the back of my
mind in early 2000 and I spent a few years translating the vision into
mathematics and software.

The mathematics works beautifully! I call it system matrix notation SMN
because it uses matrix algebra to represent systems and generate virtual
realities. It creates a mathematical information system theory and can totally
revolutionise mathematical science - breaking it out of its empiricist rut that
it doesn't even know it's in (see
The Scientific Case Against Materialism - but that's another story). I have some proof-of-concept software
implementations on my website, just to show that it works. See:
http://www.anandavala.info/TASTMOTNOR/SMN%20Code.htmlMore >

Fire the Grid Oracular Confirmation and Advice

I've just read the article on
4 ways to fire the Earth Grid and the associated website and I felt the
truth of what it says. I consulted the I Ching for oracular confirmation. It's
response verified everything that Shelley spoke of and gave advice on the matter
so I summarise it below for the benefit of others:

(61) Centring and Connecting to the Spirits / The Opened Heart:

The connection of inner and outer in the thought of the heart that spreads
the word across the threshold of life and death. It is a major site of radical
transformation at all levels and a transition to the great festival times.

Articulate the Mandate then trust in it. Connect the heart with the spirit.
It implies a return to and of the spirit, establishing the myriad blessings that
flow from the ancestors and Heaven through the act of sacrifice: benediction,
celestial favour and great prosperity; to drive out evil spirits. It is an
offering to the ancestors and a contract to recognise partners. It points at
connection to the spirit world and the carrying wave of blessings and energy
that pours forth through that connection. It means moving to or being at the
centre, an equal or still point between opposites. It is an arrow that hits the
centre of the target, the equinoxes, the pivotal points of the year. It is the
'coming in and going out' of the souls from the centre, the heart and its inner
animation, the activity of the spirits in the heart and their harmonizing
influence. It refers to the inner world: meditation and the inner Way. It is a
banner placed at the centre point of the four sides, a hole or link to the world
of the dead and the ancestors. More >

Here is a story told through quotes, comments and links related to
commonsense (naive) realism, epistemology, materialism, information
theoretic metaphysics, consciousness, empirical science, mysticism,
holistic science and also system theory. There's some fascinating
links to profound experiments into the nature of consciousness if you
don't already know about them... (The PEAR REG/GCP experiments)

Skepticism

Skepticism "is the application of reason to any and all ideas
- no sacred cows allowed... Ideally, skeptics do not go into an
investigation closed to the possibility that a phenomenon might be
real or that a claim might be true. When we say we are 'skeptical' we
mean that we must see compelling evidence before we believe."
(http://www.skeptic.com)

Furthermore "To some degree skepticism manifests itself in
the scientific method, which demands that all things assumed as facts
be questioned. But the positivism of many scientists, whether latent
or open, is incompatible with skepticism, for it accepts without
question the assumption that material effect is impossible without
material cause." (The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia
http://www.answers.com/topic/skepticism)

So materialism is NOT a skeptical position to take - because it is
based upon the unquestioned assumption and belief in the primacy of
matter. If people were to question it and not simply assert their
beliefs it could be a skeptical position but any deep questioning
soon shows it to be unable to withstand such questioning.

Commonsense (Naive) Realism

"Naïve realism is a common sense theory of perception.
Most people, until they start reflecting philosophically, are naïve
realists. This theory is also known as "direct realism" or
"common sense realism". Naïve realism claims that the
world is pretty much as common sense would have it. All objects are
composed of matter, they occupy space, and have properties such as
size, shape, texture, smell, taste and colour. [It is assumed that]
These properties are usually perceived correctly. So, when we look at
and touch things we see and feel those things directly, and so
perceive them as they really are."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Na%C3%AFve_realism)

In its most common form a naive realist thinks "I ... am a
human being. There is this one physical world, the space where
everything exists and the time in which everything happens. There are
many things in this physical world, each largely separate from the
other and persisting over a span of time... My senses give me direct
knowledge of reality. If I see a chair, it is because there is a
chair physically where and when I see it. There are exceptions, like
when I am dreaming or watching a movie, but these are rare and
obviously not real. I can know things through my senses, through
thinking about things, and through communication with other people.
Other people's beliefs may be correct or not, but beliefs of people I
respect, and beliefs held commonly by most people in my society, are
usually true."
(http://www.boogieonline.com/seeking/first/yesterday.html)

It is a general tendency of naive realists to be unaware that
their beliefs are in fact beliefs. They consider them to simply be
obvious facts about the way things are. This is because they have not
yet questioned their beliefs. They are naive believers but they often
also believe that they are skeptical. It is a habitual credulous
state of mind and the habit can be very hard to overcome.

"Karl Popper (1970) pointed out that although Hume’s
idealism appeared to him to be a strict refutation of commonsense
realism, and although he felt rationally obliged to regard
commonsense realism as a mistake, he admitted that he was, in
practice, quite unable to disbelieve in it for more than an hour:
that, at heart, Hume was a commonsense realist. [And] Edmund Husserl
(1970), saw the phenomenologist in Hume when he showed that some
perceptions are interrelated or associated to form other perceptions
which are then projected onto a world putatively outside the mind."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hume)

I.e. objects which are assumed to comprise the "external
world" are really objects of perception. To attribute them with
external reality is an act of belief for which there is no rational
basis. More >